The Passive as a Style Marker in Early Modern English: Evidence from the Helsinki Corpus
This paper offers a description of the stylistic dimension of the passive in the Early Modern English period as represented in the computerised Helsinki Corpus of English Texts. The first section examines the stylistic factors which determine the choice of a passive over an active clause. In the se...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidad de Zaragoza
1998-12-01
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| Series: | Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies |
| Online Access: | https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/11018 |
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| _version_ | 1846119815563968512 |
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| author | Elena Seoane Posse |
| author_facet | Elena Seoane Posse |
| author_sort | Elena Seoane Posse |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This paper offers a description of the stylistic dimension of the passive in the Early Modern English period as represented in the computerised Helsinki Corpus of English Texts. The first section examines the stylistic factors which determine the choice of a passive over an active clause. In the second section, EModE be-passives are analysed to discover the reasons for the association between passive constructions and formal styles in that period. Statistical data drawn from the corpus reveal that in EModE the correlation between the passive voice and formal registers is not primarily due to the requirement of impersonality, as is claimed for Present-day English, and that other factors also condition the preference for passives in formal registers of English.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-143c8e52c52b4707b42a8abd37cc76b2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1137-6368 2386-4834 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 1998-12-01 |
| publisher | Universidad de Zaragoza |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-143c8e52c52b4707b42a8abd37cc76b22024-12-16T18:03:25ZengUniversidad de ZaragozaMiscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies1137-63682386-48341998-12-011910.26754/ojs_misc/mj.199811018The Passive as a Style Marker in Early Modern English: Evidence from the Helsinki CorpusElena Seoane Posse0Universidad de Vigo This paper offers a description of the stylistic dimension of the passive in the Early Modern English period as represented in the computerised Helsinki Corpus of English Texts. The first section examines the stylistic factors which determine the choice of a passive over an active clause. In the second section, EModE be-passives are analysed to discover the reasons for the association between passive constructions and formal styles in that period. Statistical data drawn from the corpus reveal that in EModE the correlation between the passive voice and formal registers is not primarily due to the requirement of impersonality, as is claimed for Present-day English, and that other factors also condition the preference for passives in formal registers of English. https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/11018 |
| spellingShingle | Elena Seoane Posse The Passive as a Style Marker in Early Modern English: Evidence from the Helsinki Corpus Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies |
| title | The Passive as a Style Marker in Early Modern English: Evidence from the Helsinki Corpus |
| title_full | The Passive as a Style Marker in Early Modern English: Evidence from the Helsinki Corpus |
| title_fullStr | The Passive as a Style Marker in Early Modern English: Evidence from the Helsinki Corpus |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Passive as a Style Marker in Early Modern English: Evidence from the Helsinki Corpus |
| title_short | The Passive as a Style Marker in Early Modern English: Evidence from the Helsinki Corpus |
| title_sort | passive as a style marker in early modern english evidence from the helsinki corpus |
| url | https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/11018 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT elenaseoaneposse thepassiveasastylemarkerinearlymodernenglishevidencefromthehelsinkicorpus AT elenaseoaneposse passiveasastylemarkerinearlymodernenglishevidencefromthehelsinkicorpus |